(image borrowed from Simpsons Wiki)
The term "spin doctor" first came about when the New York Times started writing about Ronald Reagan's reelection in 1984. "Spin" is something a baseball pitcher does to deceive the batter (with a curveball) and a "doctor" is obviously someone who fixes a problem. Therefore it comes to that a "spin doctor" is someone who solves a political problem by putting a twist on the information and bend it to their advantage.
(image borrowed from Marine Insight)
When someone suffers a "sea change" it basically means that there was a swift and sudden change in the ways of things. It basically borrows from sailor's terms regarding the sea which can change and be unpredictable without a moment's notice. Soon it just became the norm to use this term when describing things within politics.
Well that was finally something simple I understood! Lol.
(image borrowed from Acculturated)
The expression "mending fences" came to be an expression for healing relationships. It came about in 1880 when senator John Sherman, who was trying to run for a presidential nomination, left Washington to return to Ohio. He was followed by a reporter who saw him talking to a high-ranking party official near a fence. When the reporter asked what they were doing, the response was "we're mending fences."
(image borrowed from Simpson Crazy)
In Democracy, the fourth estate was meant to be different forces of influence over Parliament (within British history) at different times, which included the army. It was first used to describe the press during a debate in the House of Commons in 1828. The fifth estate was added later to include radio and television.
(image borrowed from Merriam-Webster)
When a secret gets told, we say they "spilled the beans", an expression that comes from when the ancient Greeks would use beans in their voting process. Greeks called the beans or balls, "ballota" which is where we get the word "ballot." A white bean was "yes" and a brown bean was "no." The beans were counted in secret so the candidates wouldn't know who voted for or against them. Although, the if the contained was knocked and the beans were spilled...well, the candidate then knew!
Though I still don't quite understand how that happens as who's to say which bean belongs to who? But I get the overall concept!
That's super interesting about "spilled the beans." I never would have known that's where ballots came from.
ReplyDeleteAmber Elise @ Du Livre